Bruce Webb's Personal WebbSite

Below is what I wrote in October 1997. Now I use Pocket Bird Recorder for keeping my daily birding notes. Follow this link to see what you can do now. (I still have my Velo, but use a Windows Mobile Phone by HP). 

Here are some things that keep me busy

 Computers in the Field -- Question: How big and clunky is this computer anyway?

For all you conscientious birders who keep notes, we know -- writing field notes in the field is better than writing them later from memory. Now, with one of the latest generation palmtop computers, it is a lot easier. Here is how I did it back in 1998. Things have come a long way. When I am out in the field, I quickly input notes on my palmtop. Although physically small, it can hold weeks worth of your daily field data. But, the best thing is that I rarely need to type on the keyboard. Instead, with its pen-like stylus, I pull up a pre-existing template bird list, then with a series of simple quick highlights and paste-ins, they go on to the newly opened site file.

You can carry the latest information that you need into the field. Copy information off of your e-mail files or from any site off the internet and it becomes a Pocket Word document in your palmtop. . . You just drag it off your main computer onto the palmtop. It is easy and will be there with you in an instant whenever you need it.

You'll have no more excuses about how long it takes to write out species lists long hand! About the only need for the keyboard is to tap the number keypad to input how many individuals you saw or to type in where you saw them.

You can pull up a blank Rare Bird Report Form and fill in the description of that Belcher's Gull right in the field and have it in a word processor format before you walk away.

Answer: It is not much bigger than a pocket protector. It is smaller and lighter than most field guides you might carry. In fact, I keep mine in a small hip pack all the time I am in the field.

Take a look. This device can run, not hours, but for days on 2 AA batteries. It has a small backup battery to protect your data and it recharges on its own docking station or via an AC cord. Sorry, it doesn't slice and dice, but, it is also an organizer for names and addresses, a schedule calendar (with audible alarms if you want), a calculator, and database. All these come built-in to the ROM on the palmtop. Mine, the Velo-1, also has an on-the-fly voice recorder for quick messages. For example, there I am driving down the highway -- without turning it, on I pick up my Velo, push a little button on top and say, "Prairie Falcon flying over I-5 at Road 102." Later I can play it back and the message is time and date stamped automatically by the palmtop. You can put two of these units side by side and transfer files wirelessly using their built-in IR ports. The software, called Windows CE, looks and feels like Windows 95. It is not as complicated as earlier generation palmtops (some of the earlier models I've used were less user-friendly). These are a dream.

At the end of the day, or week, or after a long birding trip, just a simple link-up of your palmtop with your desktop and in seconds you can "drag and drop" all your data back and forth to and from your "big computer." Your field data are stored digitally on a chip in the palmtop's built-in version of MS Word, or if you prefer, Excel spreadsheet formats. When you link your palmtop with your desktop, you can copy any files in either direction. Copy your field notes onto a diskette. Print out each report and/or put a copy in your notebook. Now get ready for the best part. You can even eliminate the paper and e-mail your rare bird report directly to anyone, including yourself.

That last bit is the most wondrous part. The Philips Velo 1 has a built-in 19k bps modem I've used to check my e-mail and surf the web while away from home. Just like your bigger computer on the desk back home or a portable, all I need is any phone line from a wall. So, away from home -- I can still stay connected. Want to be entirely mobile? Get a palmtop with a cellular modem and email your reports from the field.

Interested? Ask me more about it. I'd like to see more birders using these devices in the field. If you are already using one, or decide to try it, let me know. We can share info and bird lists. I'd like to share ideas with palmtop users.

Want to find out more? Go here to see how Pocket Bird Recorder from Wildlife Computing can help you keep better bird notes.

The good news? The prices on these devices are dropping faster than a Sprague's Pipit over a Manitoba prairie.

 Here is where I go to snoop around:

 Western Field Ornithologists

 Bird Monitoring

 Birding on the Web

On the homefront:

I've been married to Jeannie Conry, M.D., Ph.D. for 35 years. We have two, super well-adjusted kids, now living on their own, who still keep life interesting.

We like to travel (Australia, Africa, Canada, Costa Rica, Disneyland, Peru, Venezuela, and annual trips Mexico) to name a just few exotic places we have explored as a family.